


Chance Meetings

by ProustPerfume



Series: Sakusa and Hinata, Intertwined [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Tokyo Nationals Arc, poor Iizuna :(, sakusa is Soft, sakusa thinks a lot lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:08:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25952698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProustPerfume/pseuds/ProustPerfume
Summary: An alternative scene exploring what if Sakusa and Hinata had met after Hinata was benched from the Kamomedai match, this time from Sakusa’s perspective.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Series: Sakusa and Hinata, Intertwined [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883623
Comments: 11
Kudos: 144





	Chance Meetings

Losing was not an experience Sakusa Kiyoomi was accustomed to. 

In all the years he played volleyball, Sakusa had never really “lost”. While, yes, technically there had been times where his teams were defeated and those would most definitely be considered “losing,” none of them had ever felt so… devastating, to say the least. 

Losing in elementary school, middle school, and even at Nationals last year hadn’t bothered him quite as much as it had this time, because before if he lost there was a legitimate reason for it. He wasn’t strong enough, the other team was simply better than they were, there were more things he needed to practice on, and when he put the effort in he would most certainly never be defeated by the same opponent twice, because he was better than he was before. 

But this time, the loss hadn’t been of any fault of his own. He hadn’t slipped up, accidentally making an ill-timed mistake or blunder, and even if he had, one error didn’t usually mean an entire game was over. Not if you were good, not if you could recover and make up for that point by getting another and another and another in its place so that a single point at the beginning of a match didn’t hold quite the same weight it had before. 

He hadn’t been underprepared nor out of practice, he saw through to that when the night before he was still up (only a little) past a reasonable hour practicing serves, spikes, and receives until he felt confident enough that he could stand on that stage tomorrow and play a game with no regrets.

And he also hadn’t overworked himself or been careless with his health, like he saw some other players had done through the day. Pushing themselves too hard, unaware of their own body’s limits. Foolishness, if you asked him. How are you expected to play a game that requires thinking ahead of being aware of your surroundings if you weren’t even thinking of yourself?

One player in particular had stuck out to him that he’d heard whisperings around but never learned the name of. “Short stack,” “shrimp,” or some other name reflectant of his height was what he’d been referred to, but Sakusa was never one for crude nicknames like that. He’d heard from their manager that of all things that could’ve happened to him that day, the smallest player at Nationals had fallen sick with a fever in the middle of a match.

He then heard from others that phrase he had grown to dislike over the years because it was always used in the wrong instance; “what a pity.” Catching a fever in the middle of an important match was not a pity because it was preventable. That player had failed to maintain his health and that was the repercussions of his carelessness. Sakusa wouldn’t have called it pitiful, he would’ve called it consequences. To pity them was inaccurate and discourteous to their capabilities. 

Foolish or not, they could have taken care of themselves and avoided being benched, but they hadn’t, and assuming they couldn’t and doubting their ability to function as a person was almost worse than any consequence they had to face because of their lapsed judgement. People can take care of themselves, they just choose not to, for one reason or another, and most of the time it wasn’t for anything worth the trouble. Sakusa loved volleyball a lot, but he loved his health more and didn’t think he could ever put it aside to play a game. Instead, he maintained balance and that let him play for as long as he wanted. 

Though, thinking about the sentiment of people choosing to or not to take care of their wellbeing, he felt a little conflicted when it came to his captain. While he had in fact overexerted himself and that in itself was its own brand of careless, calculating whether one was to sustain an injury or not after a play was not as easy to predict as was watching someone push themselves beyond their limits,knowing they’d inevitably crash. But, maybe that was just Sakusa having his own personal bias since he knew his captain and what he’d been through, had seen his struggle and meticulousness, while he knew nothing of this “shorty” and the kind of person he was nor how he took care of himself. Didn’t know if this was a slip up or a recurring instance, and thus wasn’t entirely sure how to judge it. 

But, even so, while he didn’t know the person who caught a fever, he was sure they were probably thinking the same thing he was about their negligence to their health, and if they weren’t they were an even bigger fool than he’d originally thought. 

Besides Sakusa, the only members of his team that were awake still were Komori and Iizuna, but he thought it was probably not the best idea to disturb them. Iizuna was taking it as hard as you would assume and Komori… Komori was usually a pretty easy going person, but even he had times where he became detached and inconsolable, and he was best left alone in those times, even if Sakusa had known how to console someone, which he didn’t really.

No one liked losing, but sometimes it was even worse to have someone try to placate your pain when they weren’t being genuine, so Sakusa let him be. 

For once, being inside a protected and secluded space from the outside world felt too stuffy and claustrophobic for Sakusa and he wanted some fresh air. Maybe he could clear his head if he wasn’t surrounded by rooms filled with his teammates just down the hall, their disappointments crawling under his door and seeping into his room, threatening to swallow him whole. He left his room and as he walked down the hall, another door opened. 

Iizuna was there, checking to see who was up and about still at such an hour. When he saw it was Sakusa, his brow furrowed.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” He asked softly, fingers nervously laying with the flaking paint on the doorframe.

Ever health conscious, Sakusa replied, “I don’t think you should be standing on your ankle, Iizuna-san.”

For a moment he was silent, only the sound of him chipping off the paint filling the hallway as he refused to make eye contact. Sakusa was fine with that, he didn’t feel the need to speak and could wait since he did feel that urge coming from his captain.

Finally, he spoke. “Do you regret today?”

Sakusa thought about it. The game, not exactly, there was nothing that could be done about it now that it was over. But his captain getting injured? A small part of him wished he had done something about it before it had gotten to the point of an accident happening, cut the opponent off in some way so the captain hadn’t felt the need to go to such desperate measures. 

Sakusa didn’t take titles quite as seriously as some others, especially ones in his position, but he was the ace after all and even for him a small part of him felt like he had failed at his job, so he couldn’t lie. “A little.”

Iizuna clenched his jaw and his fist, obviously frustrated. “I’m sorr-“

“Don’t apologize.” Sakusa interrupted. “Focus on getting better and you won’t have anything to apologize for.”

Tears were forming in his eyes, but Sakusa pretended not to see it for his captain’s sake. Iizuna then gave a short nod and turned back into his room. “Don’t stay up too late,” he said, before shutting the door. 

With a long exhale, Sakusa went outside. 

While he hated the sharp increase of probable illness and health problems that occurred during winter, despite what most people might’ve thought, Sakusa actually liked the cold. Not the horrible weather or the fact that everyone was a walking incubator for bacteria for almost half the year, but the sensation of being cold. 

He always found it refreshing, how when you took a deep breath on a brisk day, it filled your lungs and made everything seem clearer and sharper. It was similar to taking a deep breath after crying, except not as bothersome nor embarrassing because he hated crying, but the part right after made up for it most of the time. The feeling of letting go was pretty grounding for him, he’d come to learn.

He figured that liking the cold was because it was almost a perfect emulation of feeling relief, when you can finally breathe properly and suddenly everything feels calm and still.

Sakusa hated winter, but he enjoyed being cold. 

He also tended to run warm, so he liked being able to feel chilled for once. Winter was also a pain because of his high body heat and having to bundle up more than usual in order to protect himself from the elements and other people around him, but when he could, on occasion dress lightly and bask in the cool air around him, he found it pleasant.

It had been a night cold like that, chilly and yet him only in his tracksuit was enough to keep him warm enough so he wouldn’t freeze, and with the lack of layers he could still feel the slight breeze of wind through his jacket. To his side he noticed a cement wall encasing the tiny garden in front of the hotel and, after wiping it off thoroughly, he rested himself against it. 

A lot of people found the sky interesting, but Sakusa was more inclined to the ground beneath his feet. Sure, the sky was beautiful in its own right, but there was something about the earth that he found so comforting, a stable, unchanging, solid ground that held all of them up and was always the same no matter what. 

Sakusa found comfort in routine and stability, to the point where people would consider him stiff and resistant to change, but it wasn’t that he didn’t want things to change, he just preferred when they didn’t. And if they did, that was fine, as long as, eventually, he could return back to his normal. People didn’t understand that and that’s why they tended to leave him be, and he was fine with that. 

It was the same for when he was feeling under the weather mentally. It wasn’t often, since he made sure to pay attention to his mental state and avoid any unnecessary stressors or quickly take care of any that came up, but playing a sport the had just as much mental strain as physical and was really unpredictable and could have its mood change in a second flat, it happened sometimes. 

This was another reason he enjoyed the cold, most people didn’t so he could be alone and no one would bother him. 

At least, he thought so, until his peaceful silence and contemplation was interrupted by a light voice sighing beside him. 

He raised his head in surprise and turned a little to see them out of the corner of his eye. They were a little hard to make out, since the street lamps didn’t emit much light and the moon was waxing, but they looked like they were wearing a volleyball jacket. 

Great, Sakusa thought. Another volleyball nut who did nothing but talk about it and probably thought they could be friends just because they played the same sport. Did they know what time it was? Approaching a stranger in the middle of the night like that was strange and reckless.

“Hi,” they said, a gentle smile on their face. Sakusa didn’t really know what to say, often finding first meetings awkward most of the time, so he kept quiet.

“Do you play volleyball?” They asked, their head tilted to the side as they asked the question. Not wanting to encourage this person and invite what would probably turn into a long winded conversation about something he already spent most of his time thinking about, he turned away from them and resumed looking at the ground.

“Fine,” they responded. “Don’t talk, see if I care.” They sounded put off and like they were pouting slightly, which was silly because Sakusa hasn’t even said anything yet. Definitely one of those invasive types that liked to have things go their way that volleyball seemed to attract the most, for some reason. How troublesome. 

Their silence didn’t last long, though, because soon after they asked, “What team do you play on?”

Sakusa really don’t want to have a conversation with this person, but he figured they would probably pester and annoy him if he didn’t humor them like a lot of people he knew (Atsumu and Bokuto, to name a few) so he pushed himself off the wall and showed them his back, his school’s name hopefully visible in the little light there was. 

After a few moments of silence from the person, they bluntly said, “Never heard of it,” which made Sakusa snort. Okay, so, maybe they weren’t a volleyball nut. Maybe they were a manager and borrowing someone’s jacket, or something. Sakusa wasn’t a boastful person, but if your team was attending Nationals it was expected you would at least know the names of the other teams who were going to be there as well. This person seemed a bit ditzy, if he was being honest. 

Then, sort of out of nowhere, Sakusa heard a sound of impact and what sounded like a pained squeal from the person. When he looked to see what happened, Sakusa saw them clutching their hand, their knuckles an angry red and their face looking like they were trying to hold back tears.

Putting two and two together, Sakusa made an observation. “That was stupid of you to do.”

Apparently they didn’t like that, glaring a little at Sakusa. The next second, though, they were sighing. “Yeah, well, it wasn’t the only stupid thing I’ve done today, so it’s fine.”

Sakusa moved his head back from where he slightly angled it to see what they had done and sighed internally. He could see the obvious bait to a conversation that was, and he cursed himself a little for actually being curious as to what this person could have done that was even dumber than hitting your hand against cement, but he knew how these kind of people worked, give them an inch and they run thirty miles, so he tried to resist his curiosity. 

It didn’t seem to matter much, though, since they continued speaking their own. “I had probably the biggest fumble of my life today and I don’t even have anyone to share the burden with,” they said. “Do you know what that’s like?”

No, Sakusa didn’t know what that was like. He went out of his way to make sure he didn’t cause difficulties for others, and so far he’d been successful. Remembering his captain, however, he could at least sympathize. “From personal experience, no.”

“But, from secondhand?” They asked. Sakusa nodded. 

“Our captain,” he started. “He got injured and had to sit out. We lost.”

“Me too,” they replied. “Same thing happened to me. I got sick and went to the hospital and we lost before I could even come back.” Sakusa flinched slightly at the mention of illness and scooted just the tiniest bit away from them.

“One second I was standing on the court with my team preparing for victory and the next I’m dizzy and can’t think straight. Just like that,” they concluded.

“If you got sick that’s your own fault,” was Sakusa’s blunt reply. 

The person made a sound like they wanted to argue before they sighed. “You’re right, it was my fault. Had I been there, I could have done something to save us-“

Was this person serious? “That’s not what I meant,” Sakusa cut off. He could feel them waiting for an explanation and sighed. Wasn’t it obvious?

“Getting sick was your fault, your team losing wasn’t. If they were strong enough, they would’ve been able to win regardless of if you were there or not. It’s conceited and disrespectful to think they could only win if you were there.” 

Sakusa went over what he said in his head again. A team isn’t strong because of a single player, but maybe this person’s team only had a single player they relied on, which was obviously a recipe for defeat sometime down the line. “Maybe it’s true, though, since they lost.”

The person seemed to be considering these thoughts in their head, falling quiet. After a moment, they spoke again. “Is the same true about your team and your captain, then?”

Sakusa thought about it for a moment. Itachiyama were strong as they were, but this was also the first time they had never had all six starting players play from start to finish. The thought that they had been limiting themselves all this time, even if indirectly, kind of pissed him off.

“Maybe,” he said. They could’ve won and probably would’ve if Iizuna was there, but who knows? Things could’ve turned out differently because his captain was there, and not necessarily in a good way. Nothing in volleyball is finite.

“We probably would’ve won if he was there,” he said. “But maybe we wouldn’t have. No game is guaranteed, that’s why you practice. If you do, you don’t have to worry about if you were good enough or not. The ones who practice the most are the ones who win.” 

He’d definitely have to talk to the rest of the team about practicing new formations so they could avoid this kind situation if it somehow happened again in the future. The better prepared they were, the better chances they had of winning. 

“Isn’t that a bit of a black and white view of it all?” They questioned. “Sometimes miracles happen, after all. Like you said, no game is guaranteed.”

Oh, how that annoyed Sakusa. Besides pity, the concept of miracles was one of the most irritating things he heard about consistently while playing volleyball. Only crappy people think miracles are real.

“‘Miracles’ are what bad players call good plays. Miracles don’t exist if that’s what you meant to do all along.”

That seemed to have struck them, a soft, thoughtful “huh” falling past their lips. They sounded cheerier than they had before when they said, “I’d never really thought of it like that before. I still think miracles exist, but that’s a cool way to think, too.”

What was with this person? Who hears someone outright refute their mentality towards something and acts almost appreciative of it? Miffed, Sakusa gave a huff and tried to push this person and their strange ways out of his mind with a roll of his shoulder.

“I wasn’t trying to change your mind,” he said.

He could hear the smile in their voice as they spoke. “I didn’t say you were, but you still offered me your perspective, so thanks for that.”

A weird person, indeed. “Whatever,” he mumbled.

“You know, you have kind of a bad attitude,” they paused. “...Hey, what’s your name?”

In his head, Sakusa scoffed. They really had no sense did they? They would probably never see each other again, and here they were asserting themselves and acting like they were close. If Bokuto and Atsumu were here, he was sure they’d get along swimmingly. Troublemakers, the lot of them.

“I’m not telling you, and you remind me of someone very annoying,” he quipped.

“Aw, why not?” They whined. And you’re not the first person to call me annoying, trust me.”

“Why do you say that like it’s a good thing?” He questioned. “And you’re a stranger, I have no need to give my personal information out to a stranger.”

“A stranger?!” They cried, and Saskusa did his best not to laugh, playing off scrunching his shoulders to snicker as a flinch. “A stranger?” They asked again, much quieter than before and that was even funnier.

“Mystery-san,” they called Sakusa, almost sounding like they were scolding him, which was annoying. And Mystery-san? What was it with strange people wanting to give him even stranger nicknames?

“We just talked about some of our most personal philosophies with each other for the better part of an hour and you think we’re still strangers?”

“Don’t call me that,” he chided. “And yes, we’re still strangers. A single conversation regardless of its topic doesn’t suddenly make us friends.” His lips ticked up at the corners as a thought crossed his mind.

“After all,” he said, turning towards the person to look them in the eyes. Their expression was priceless. “You don’t even know what my name is.”

They became just the right amount of annoyed at his teasing that Sakusa liked and he couldn’t help but think they would be a fun person to mess with.

“How are you supposed to make any friends if you don’t tell anyone your name?” They challenged, pouting slightly.

Sakusa shrugged, looking across the street when he had seen something move in the corner of his eye. When he saw it, it was a grey cat and he watched it lick itself under the streetlamp. “Who said I want to make friends?” He asked. 

The person snorted. “Anyone that says they don’t want or need friends is lying.”

That was true. Sakusa had mostly said it just to pester the other, but they were right. Even Sakusa, who didn’t particularly like people and found them to be a hassle more often than not, was enjoying spending time with this random person, if only slightly. He couldn’t say that to them, though, that was embarrassing.

“Well, if you’re not gonna tell me your name I won’t tell you mine either.” The smallest smile formed on Sakusa’s lips. How stubborn.

“I didn’t ask,” he replied.

“Good, ‘cause I’m not telling you.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

Them playing hard to get like they hadn’t approached Sakusa and struck up a conversation was very humorous and, admitting it to no one, not even himself, a bit cute. Before he could get lost in whatever that train of thought was going to turn into, the person spoke again.

“Since you lost, does that mean you’re leaving tomorrow, too?”

Ugh, don’t remind him. Regardless of if his team won or not, he always hated the “wrap up” part of tournaments. “No. We have other engagements to attend to first. We leave the day after tomorrow.”

“What kind of ‘engagements’?”

“An interview and some scouts wanted to talk with the coaches over lunch.” Pretty standard stuff, honestly, but it was still annoying, especially since they lost. The tears, the remorse, it was taxing and annoying and winning was worth it just so they didn’t have to deal with all of that. 

“Whoa!” They suddenly cheered. “That’s awesome! Like, college scouts or professional scouts? Either way, that’s so cool! Do you think they’ll talk about you?”

Motor mouth. That was what came to mind when they talked. Fast and loud and a lot. He was used to that since that was almost exclusively the personality type of the majority of players, but even unintentionally it grated his senses a little bit. This person was interesting, but loud was loud.

“I don’t know,” he said, probably a little too rude but he couldn’t help his initial reaction. Part of the reason he didn’t like crowds was because all of the commotion they caused, and loudness right next to his ear wasn’t the most pleasant thing. 

“They didn’t tell us anything and I don’t really care. If I get scouted or I don’t, it doesn’t change how hard I’m going to work.”

“Whoa, Mystery-san.” Again with the Mystery-san. “I thought you were just a big, old grouch, but you’re actually kind of cool.”

Okay, opinion changed. This person wasn’t cute, they were a brat. “... I’m going inside now.”

“Wait, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude!” They cried, and Sakusa felt sick to his stomach when he felt a hand wrap around his bicep. He ripped himself away, complex emotions stirring up at them touching him.

“Do you have any idea how many germs you carry?” He barked. Definitely a brat this person was, who just randomly touches people? “And now you touch me, spreading your bacteria all over the place.” 

Part of him hadn’t hated it as much as he usually did, but thinking about that just made him more irritated so he ignored it and pulled out his wipes, rapidly scrubbing his sleeve. 

When he chanced a look at the person, he felt a little bad about his reaction. They looked genuinely surprised and kind of like a puppy who’d been yelled at, which he supposed wasn’t far off the mark. With the last bit of malice he could muster before he knew he was going to lose to those eyes, he faked a repulsed, “Disgusting,” and went to throw the wipes away. 

He felt embarrassed over what he was going to do next. Normally when someone touched him he didn’t feel any remorse for any reaction he’d given them, but this hadn’t bothered him as much (which was saying something) and no one had even looked that ashamed over it before. Instead of storming off, he went back to his place from before, grumpy and crossing his arms over how soft he’d gotten for this person in such a short time. Truly embarrassing.

“I’m sorry for touching you, Mystery-san,” they mumbled, genuinely sounding apologetic. “I should’ve known better than to touch a stranger.”

The first time someone had apologized over it, too. Damn, could feel himself slipping further and further. How humiliating. 

“At least you have manners,” he muttered, slightly shy, even if it didn’t seem that way. 

They fell quiet for a while and it was a little tense. Sakusa was about to head back inside to escape this embarrassing moment when the person asked,”So, what are you going to do after this?”

Sakusa blinked. Wasn’t it obvious? “Practice.” He looked at them, wondering why they asked such a thing. “What else is there to do?”

The person smiled and Sakusa was struck, wondering how it was possible he was seeing the sun right now. Wasn’t it the middle of the night?

“Right! I will too.”

Wow. He couldn’t believe he’d thought something so cheesy. Maybe he should check his condition when he gets back to his room, this loss must’ve taken a much larger toll on him than he’d realized if he was thinking such cliche things about a stranger so quickly. Komori could never know. 

For the millionth time in his life, Sakusa was glad he had a mask to cover his face but for the first time it was for a different reason. With slightly warmed cheeks, he responded, “Right.”

“Well, Mystery-san, we should probably get going. It’s getting late, well, early, I guess. The sun’s probably gonna come up soon.” Without warning, they threw themselves off the cement wall and landed on the ground and Sakusa found himself worried for them, partly because they just said they were sick and now they were jumping off ledges, and partly because they had put their hands on the ground to catch themselves and that was so many germs. 

They dusted themselves off and turned around, offering their hand to Sakusa. “Thanks for talking with me, Mystery-san. I feel a lot better than I did before.” 

Sakusa almost instantly recoiled at the gesture since it was the hand that had just touched the ground. They seemed to realize this, though, because they pulled their hand back and bowed instead. Considerate to boot. 

“Don’t call me Mystery-san,” it was more of a reflex, than anything. “And don’t get sick anymore,” he added. “That’s really stupid of you, especially when you can prevent it.” Take care of yourself was the unspoken message. Sakusa couldn’t stand when people didn’t take care of themselves. 

“Right, I won’t.” They seemed to observe Sakusa for a moment before bowing again, heading towards the lodging off to the side that was most likely where they were staying. 

They turned around and gave a wave. “See you later, Mystery-san!”

Sakusa narrowed his eyes, seeing the cheekiness in that, before turning around to head back to his own hotel. He looked briefly at the inn where the person was staying and felt embarrassed when he saw they were watching him watch them. Quickly, he went inside, letting out a sigh of relief once safely in the hotel. 

That was… a lot, he thought as he began to fully process all that happened. Not only had he willingly been in the space of a stranger, he even talked to them and enjoyed doing so. He even had thought they were being cute. Maybe he’d hit his head and hadn’t realized or something but that was all very unusual for Sakusa. 

But, there was just something about that person. They had a pull to them that Sakusa had found himself unintentionally getting tangled in, but he found he hadn’t minded. He even compared them to the sun, as mortifying as that was. 

Embarrassing. He’d remember that conversation for a long time and use it as reference for what not to do, because he definitely couldn’t have a repeat of that. That was an outlier and was to never be replicated again, otherwise he’d die from humiliation. 

The sun, he thought, how unnecessarily poetic. 

And how funny it was that many years later he found himself using the exact same analogy for a person without even meaning to, and how the irony and embarrassment only skyrocketed when he later learned it had been the same person after all. 

How funny, indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Sakusa’s POV is out!!! I accidentally made him like.... really cheesy but I feel like hinata has that effect on him even indirectly lol. There’s going to be a third part of them on black jackals from Hinatas POV and I was thinking of a fourth part from Sakusa’s POV but I don’t know what it would be yet so let me know what you think of that!!!
> 
> Thank you for reading!!!  
> -  
> [ follow me on twitter!! ](%E2%80%9Dtwitter.com/fireflysunlight%E2%80%9D)


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